Pieces of daily life in Jakarta and (sometimes) the rest of the Indonesian archipelago.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Watch your snores

Gone are the good old times... Sitting at the Parliament and other official gatherings is not what it used to anymore. Oh!!!!!!.... Sigh. Bapak Presiden, who goes by the great name of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (such a delicacy for a foreigner's ears, isn't it?) is getting tough and not tolerating a good old nap anymore, as reporter Desy Nurhayati tells us today in the Jakarta Post.

"National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) chief Paskah Suzetta learned a lot from the embarrassing incident at the National Resilience Institute (Lemhannas) last month, when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono paused during his speech to rouse a regional official who had apparently dozed off.

The President went so far as to ask the Institute not to pass the official for failing to live up to his leadership standards, which included the ability to withstand sleepiness.

To ensure no repeats of the President's rebuke, Bappenas displayed a warning on the large screens on either side of the stage where the President would deliver his speech, just an hour before the opening ceremony. "During the President's address, participants and guests are not allowed to sleep, talk to each other or switch on their cell phones," read the reminder.

But apparently the warning was not enough.

Yudhoyono himself reminded the participating governors, regents and mayors from across the country to focus on the four-day event. "I know you may be physically tired, but please don't fall asleep. Even if you start to nod off, you have to wake yourself quickly because the people you lead want you to return home with a special gift, which is a better development program," the President said, to general applause from the floor.

Despite the warnings, more than one phone rang and several officials were seen closing their eyes during the President's speech. If the President had noticed these defiant few, his rage would have far exceeded the anger that marked the forum at Lemhannas."